Report finds culture and leadership change needed to enable the successful implementation of the National Care Service

A research team from University of West of Scotland (UWS) has published Culture, Leadership, and Integration in the Development of the National Care Service; A Journey to ‘We Are the NCS’ a report into how culture and leadership are managed to enable integration in Health and Social Care (HSC) in the emerging Scottish National Care Service (NCS). 

The report, funded by the Scottish Government, explores what evidence there is to help shape the culture and leadership change. The report found that current knowledge and evidence is both fragmented and limited, as culture and leadership in the NCS context has not been well studied. What is known is that integration has not yet been delivered in the way and at the scale desired by those needing improved care, those working in care, and government both local and national.

The report found there requires a clearer and more coherent view of what culture and leadership, especially one that values the workforce, will look like. The reports sets out three phases for an NCS culture and leadership change process. 

The first is to clarify visions of what change should look like and who should be involved. The second phase is to define pathways and what interventions are needed at each level of leadership. Finally, phase three focuses on stakeholder engagement and the roles of multiple key agencies working together on culture and leadership. 

Lead researcher, Professor Stephen Gibb, said,

Successful implementation of the NCS reforms has the potential to impact positively on both those requiring care and the workforce.

However, to make meaningful progress many things need to change. If we quickly build the intelligence to tackle the challenge of culture and leadership, the implementation of the NCS will be more of a success. The risk is that the NCS, though a new public body, faces the old existing cultures and leadership which have been part of the problem. If that is replicated, then the clear risk is that any gains from a new strategy and shared accountability flounder.

The implementation of NCS reform aims to deliver improvements for those needing and providing care including improvements to strategy and system with shared accountability among the Scottish Government, local authorities and the NHS, as well as direct service providers in independent and social enterprise organisations. 

The NCS has the potential to impact positively on thousands of families and individuals with care needs and a workforce of more than 200,000 across community health, social work and social care delivering services. At the heart of this will be changes in the culture and leadership from the national care board set up as a new public body to frontline service delivery teams.